Now that production of Agents of SHIELD is over (it's supposed to air next May, but March would be better), the cast has gone on to other roles and other projects. Chloe Bennett is doing well with the animated movie Abominable, while Ming-Na Wen is shaking things up on The Mandalorian.
Elizabeth Henstridge, aka Jemma Fitz-Simmons (and she better wind up as that next year), decided to make one of the zillions of Christmas movies made by the Hallmark Channel. Christmas at the Plaza aired last Thanksgiving for the first time. It had some good ideas, but, like way too many of the Hallmark movies, they weren't used very well. It also had the over-used cliches of romantic triangles and meet-cutes.
This will have spoilers, so be warned.
OK, the plot involves a historian named Jessica who's been hired by the Plaza to come up with a Christmas display that connects with the history of the hotel. Naturally, the files are in the basement and wildly unorganized. She also has three weeks to come up with something, because every Hallmark movie requires some weak suspense. It's the same as "our town is threatened by a city slicker who thinks our ornament industry/friendly inn/general store/holiday traditions should be torn down to make way for a megastore". This is often added by the fact the "threat" is an old boyfriend/girlfriend.
Here, though, she figures out the tree toppers at the hotel's Christmas tree have been different over the years. So, she has her display idea. She also gets help from a guy named Nick who also has a holiday decorating business. Naturally, she denies being attracted to him. Besides, she has a boyfriend (Mr. Ex-Beau) who seems to be interested in getting funding for his latest project than her.
The movie does have a good hook: Jessica learns there wasn't a tree-topper in 1969, and wants to know why. She and Nick find the guy who made them (and the identity is pretty interesting), but he won't say why. It's revealed eventually, of course.
The display is a hit, Jessica and Nick get together, etc.
While it's a cute movie, it could have been better...A LOT!
First, Henstridge talks in an American accent. It proves she can do that, but are Hallmark Channel fans allergic to foreign accents? She's from Sheffield. Put it in the movie.
Second, her character almost gives up ten minutes into the movie. Why? Nick's there.
As we said before, Jessica has the soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend. He seems to be unimpressed with her display idea because it's not prestigious enough. They don't seem to be connected very much as a couple. She's supposed to meet his parents, and she doesn't know who bought the tickets for that trip?
That's a hint.
It could have been better for the boyfriend to try to hide Jessica's project from the faculty head he's trying to impress. However, the guy does find out and thinks it's just fine, commenting on the mountain of homemade ornaments he's got at home. This will be followed by the deflating of the boyfriend.
The movie also suddenly decides to introduce Nick's ex-girlfriend, but only to dash Jessica's romantic hopes for eight seconds. If the movie was supposed to have a triangle, it would have been better to decide on the image-conscious boyfriend or the ex-girlfriend who looked down at Nick's decorating business.
The scene where Jess is "forced" to sing with Nick's family should have been taken out. It didn't really add much.
The center of the movie should have been the tree toppers and the one missing from '69, and how both Jessica and Nick track it down and (of course) get together.
As for the future (aside from the inevitable encore of SHIELD), it's easy to see Henstridge in Victorian stories or period pieces. Thanks to Marvel, it's also easy to see her being prim and proper while firing a shotgun. Hello, Tom Cruise.
Hallmark Channel movies are basically candy canes for the brain. It fills time. Still, if they edited the script for Christmas at the Plaza a couple more times, it would have been more interesting.
You don't use a "romantic rival" for eight seconds so the heroine fears she may lose the guy she's not interested in yet. It's just science.
